


What Constitutes Moving On?

by thetiniestkotorfan



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Bisexual Jaal Ama Darav, Cryo-Sleep, Cryogenics, Ex Girlfriend, F/F, I Tried, M/M, POV Third Person, and Scott doesn't look like scott, but anyway, idk where the line is man, is the best Jaal Ama Darav, leaving someone behind, non-Sara Ryder, one damn moment of peace, post-Meridian, so I guess original Scott?, switching POV, technically all Ryders are original because personallity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-11 06:16:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13518288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetiniestkotorfan/pseuds/thetiniestkotorfan
Summary: Technically it's been over 600 years. She's lived her life, you've begun living yours. Hell, you even fell in love again. So why are you still watching these old videos?





	What Constitutes Moving On?

Fran smirked and elbowed Kere in the stomach, causing her to fold over and trap Fran under her, doubled in half and blowing raspberries into her shoulder. She was soft there since leaving the alliance, no longer having to watch her diet or train as hard.    
  
Kere laughed and dodged as Fran struggled, ending in them both falling onto the ground in front of the couch, Fran outright cackling as she was pinned, arms above her head with her girlfriend locking her legs down with her own. The asari smirked down at her, still laughing.    
  
"You're lucky I love you, sunshine."    
  
Fran grinned raising her head and tilting it to the right. "Sorry, what, didn't catch that the first time you're gonna have to say it again."    
  
Kere laughed, batting away Fran's now escaped arms as she tried to roll them over.    
  
"And again and again and again and again..."    
  
"Darling one?"    
  
Fran almost smashed the laptop she closed it so fast, shrieking for a second. Turning to face Jaal in the doorway.    
  
"Jesus fuck Jaal, knock would ya?"    
  
"I'm sorry. Were you talking to someone?"    
  
"No no, no." She took a deep breath, running her hand down her face as she composed herself. "Scott forwarded me some videos he found in his personal files. Some of mine got mixed up in them." She stood, moving away from the laptop on her bed and towards the work screen on her desk, for nothing else but to keep her hands occupied.    
  
"Ah, I see. I guess the transition must be difficult for you, having your family here must be helpful. Was there anyone to say goodbye to?"    
  
She sighed. Jaal was an open book, free with his feelings and thoughts, especially now that he trusted her, that they were friends.    
  
Humans were not as open as angarans, a fact she'd mentioned to him multiple times. Especially when it came to her relationship with Vetra, or Scott's with him. Scott was even more emotionally stunted, too much like their father. She marveled at how he tolerated Jaal's open affection, given back home that was usually cause for an immediate "cease and desist".    
  
"I brought my family with me but my girlfriend...ex girlfriend...she stayed behind. She'd lost a friend recently, and her brothers were in the Milky Way. So she stayed."    
  
"I see..." He paused a moment before walking over and gently nudging Fran until she moved to the window. If there was one thing Jaal had noticed, it was to her, space was calming. If she needed a moment, she would look to the window. Sometimes she would forget, staring at the ceiling above her, getting more agitated. She would get so lost in that agitation...she would stay there, letting it consume her. So sometimes, Jaal moved her to the window, let her calm herself there before continuing to talk.    
  
"You miss her?"    
  
Fran looked at him and sighed. Lexi had told her that bottling things up wasn't good for her, and she supposed that was right. Jaal was her closest friend here, she might as well tell him.    
  
"Yeah, she was...well, Scott called us a match made in hell. Funny, smart, sarcastic and kicked ass like no one's business."    
  
"Kind of like Vetra?"    
  
Fran sighed out a laugh, smirking at the ground. "In a way. Vetra has a sweetness to her that Kere...didn't really have. She was as like to stab you as she was to save you. Worked with Commander Shepard for a while...I wonder if she's still alive sometimes. She'd be a matriarch now."    
  
Jaal pondered the information for a minute, looking at her quizzically.    
  
"Commander Shepard?"    
  
Fran glanced over.    
  
"An Alliance Commander from back home. Super famous elite biotic, part of the same N7 program my dad was in. Kere was with her when she stopped the Geth, these AI who were trying to kill us all. There was a crisis, and when there's a crisis, people called Shepard, and Kere? She really couldn't stay away from crisis if she tried."    
  
Jaal hummed, looking out the window as well. He didn't know as much about The Milky Way as he would like. He tried, and he spent a lot of time parsing through the histories brought with the Initiative, but there was only so much one could learn in a year or so.    
  
Still, he could tell Fran missed it sometimes. Yes, one could see she loved it here, but every once in a while she would seem to remember something Andromeda didn't have, and she would become...distant. It was natural after all, one could never really forget their home.    
  
"Perhaps  one day, communication will be set up with your milky way, and you will know if Kere is alive."   
  
Fran gave a small smile, nodding and straightening a bit.    
  
"Have you ever told Vetra about her?"    
  
There went the smile.    
  
"I mentioned her once or twice, there was no reason to really get into it. It was 600 years ago."    
  
"600 years that you spent asleep. Not a lot of time to process. When did you two..."    
  
"We broke it off about a week before I left. We went for as long as we thought we could get away with..."    
  
"And you have not told Vetra?"    
  
Fran groaned, "Vetra knows I had a serious girlfriend before I came here, she also knows that I care for her, here, now, more than l do for Kere."    
  
"Present tense."    
  
Fran glared. A glare that Jaal just sat under.    
  
"...It's just...it's complicated. It's not like I'm using Vetra like a rebound, if that's what you're so worried about." She snapped.    
  
Jaal raised his hands in surrender. "No need to become defensive, I am your friend and I worry about your emotional wellbeing."    
  
Fran took a deep breath and a moment to deflate. Jaal was...blunt. To put it lightly.    
  
"...I love Vetra, and it's a good thing that she's here because goddamn Jaal, I don't know if I could've done this without her. I died 3 damn times! In a few months! When she's there, I didn't feel so alone. I want to be there for her, like she's been there for me. I will be. I am. Maybe Kere will always have a part of me, maybe I'll always kind of love her, but that doesn't make loving Vetra any less real Jaal. It just doesn't."    
  
Jaal smiled slightly, placing a hand on Ryder's shoulder and nodding. "I an glad you have someone who means so much to you here, and I am glad you allowed me to hear this story. We are family too."    
  
Ryder let out a half laugh, "Trying to tell me something Jaal? Now if you came here to ask my permission for my brother's hand I have to say..."    
  
"What? No. No no no no no," Jaal shook his head, chuckling to himself. "I could not place that decision on Scott now, it seems to early for such a thing."    
  
Ryder smiled, helping Jaal up and walking out of the room. "Ok ok, but just to let you know, I think you're good for him."   
  
Jaal grinned "That...means a lot." He shuffled for a moment before clearing his throat. "Ahem, anyway, I did come here to get you for a reason. I believe if Gil and Kallo are left to their own devices for too much longer, something may be broken."    
  
Fran groaned, placing a hand on her head in just complete exasperation. "Why didn't you tell me that first Jaal? Holy shit." She ran out of the room to diffuse whatever goddamn argument those two were in now, leaving a smirking Jaal to trail after her, believing she would truly be ok.

**Author's Note:**

> When you finish an entire piece and then have no idea why the video even exists. Sorry I haven't posted anything in like years. Not that anyone is following so not that it matters. I promise I'll put up an actual chapter series soon. I've been working on a Hawke/Anders monopoly AU (it's not as weird as it sounds) for a while. Only have the beginning though. We'll see. Thanks for reading dudes.


End file.
